Following the dominance of Nigeria’s female lifters in the para-powerlifting event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Riluwan Idris, who became the country’s first male gold medallist at the Games, has spoken about his determination to break the jinx.
Idris won gold in the men’s para-powerlifting event at the ongoing 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, on Friday night.
The 23-year-old finished ahead of England’s Matthew Harding and Malaysia’s Nicodemus Manggoi Moses, who claimed silver and bronze respectively.
“This is my first Commonwealth Games. I’ve competed at other international events before, but this is my first time participating here. Before coming, I made a promise to myself that I must become Nigeria’s first male gold medallist because a lot of people have been saying that the men cannot deliver gold medals. I wanted to prove them wrong, and I thank God today that the gold medal is mine.”
Idris secured victory with a successful lift of 208kg on his second attempt, becoming the only lifter in the competition to clear the 200kg mark. He had opened with a successful lift of 200kg and finished with 132.8 points to claim his maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal.
However, he narrowly missed his third attempt at 212kg, which would have equalled the Commonwealth Games record, and settled for the gold medal.
Idris also became Nigeria’s first male athlete to win gold at the ongoing Games, joining record-breaking Folashade Oluwafemiayo and Esther Nworgu on the top step of the podium as Nigeria reinforced its dominance in the para-powerlifting competition with three gold and three silver medals.
Nigeria won three of the four gold medals on offer in the para-powerlifting programme, improving on the two gold medals it secured at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
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